Weekend of repair, restoration work after tropical wave

WORKMEN from both T&TEC and WASA were kept busy on the weekend effecting repair and restoration work throughout the country following hundreds of reports of power outages and interruption to water supplies following the bad weather caused by the passage of a tropical wave.

The Ministry of Public Utilities said on Sunday that landslides and fallen trees caused by extremely strong gusts of wind and heavy rains affected both power and water delivery services.

In the case of T&TEC, the ministry said, the system experienced a total of 436 small and large outages. All of the electricity commission’s resources including linesmen, maintenance technicians, line clearers and senior supervisors and engineers were engaged in the restorative activities.

As of 8 am on Sunday, 322 power outages were restored, while another 114 were being attended to. The commission estimated that the 114 outstanding power outages should have been resolved by the end of Sunday, weather permitting.

In the case of WASA, the operations of 32 water treatment facilities, booster stations and wells were affected by the adverse weather conditions.

By noon on Saturday, production had been restored to 11 of those facilities. WASA was working closely with T&TEC to restore electricity to its facilities which were affected by power outages.

The ministry thanked affected members of the public for their understanding and patience, but advised that much more needed to be done by T&TEC and WASA to stabilise the situation which continues to be impacted by continued adverse weather conditions even on Sunday.